Mercer Street Friends will recognize leaders in philanthropy, public service and nonprofit leadership during its Sixth Annual Leadership Awards Celebration on Tuesday, June 9.
The event will be held from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at the Mercer Street Friends Food Bank, 3 Graphics Drive, Ewing.
The annual celebration honors individuals and organizations whose work supports Mercer Street Friends’ mission of nourishing minds and bodies and empowering families and communities. The nonprofit provides food, family and education programs throughout Mercer County, with a focus on Trenton and the surrounding area.
This year’s honorees are Bloomberg Philanthropies, recipient of the Corporate Leadership & Public Service Award; state Sen. Shirley K. Turner, recipient of the 2026 Humanitarian Award; and Ken Blackwell, board chair of Mercer Street Friends, recipient of the Robert M. Appelbaum Service Award.
Founded in 1958 by members of the Religious Society of Friends, or Quakers, Mercer Street Friends began during a period of economic strain in Trenton after suburban migration and flooding affected the city and its residents. Founding volunteers renovated a former Quaker meeting house on Mercer Street in the Mill Hill section of Trenton and turned it into a community center for neighbors in need.
Today, the Quaker-affiliated, nonsectarian nonprofit works to address poverty and its effects through integrated services that build community, support families and provide resources for children and adults. Its work includes food distribution through the Mercer Street Friends Food Bank, social and emotional support for parents and families, preschool programming, community school initiatives and adult education.
Bloomberg Philanthropies will receive the Corporate Leadership & Public Service Award.
The organization works in five focus areas: the arts, education, the environment, government innovation and public health. It includes Michael Bloomberg’s foundation, corporate and personal philanthropy, as well as Bloomberg Associates, a pro bono consulting group that works with mayors and cities around the world.
Bloomberg Philanthropies works in more than 700 cities and 150 countries. In 2025, the organization invested $4.3 billion globally, and Bloomberg has given $25.4 billion to philanthropy over his lifetime.
The organization’s connection to Mercer Street Friends includes support for local food-security work. Bloomberg Philanthropies was among the partners that supported Mercer Street Friends’ 2025 Thanksgiving turkey distribution, when the nonprofit distributed 10,000 turkeys to more than 100 pantry and community partners across Mercer County.
That effort helped supply turkeys to organizations including Arm in Arm, HomeFront, East Trenton Collaborative, St. Raphael-Holy Angels and Mt. Carmel Guild-Catholic Charities for distribution to families facing food insecurity.
Bloomberg’s broader food-security work has also included its global Million Meals Challenge, which surpassed its goal in 2023 by helping package and distribute 1.1 million meals. More than 2,500 Bloomberg employees in 35 cities participated in the effort, supporting more than 100 food-assistance organizations around the world.
In New Jersey, Bloomberg employees partnered with Mercer Street Friends, Nourish.NJ, America’s Grow-a-Row and Bentley Community Services to provide fresh produce and meals in low-income communities.
Turner will receive the 2026 Humanitarian Award.
Turner represents New Jersey’s 15th Legislative District and serves as president pro tempore of the New Jersey Senate. She has served in the Senate since 1998 after previously serving in the General Assembly from 1994 to 1998.
She is also a former Mercer County freeholder and freeholder vice president and has served on the Lawrence Township Zoning Board, Mercer County Improvement Authority and New Jersey State Council on the Arts.
A career educator, Turner worked as a Trenton public school teacher, an Educational Opportunity Fund counselor for disadvantaged youth who were first-generation college students, a counselor for the New Jersey Youth Corps and associate director of career services at Rider University. She retired from Rider after 44 years of service.
Turner earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Trenton State College, now The College of New Jersey, and a master’s degree in guidance and counseling from Rider University. She also earned doctoral credits in education at Rutgers University.
Her legislative work has focused heavily on education, children, families, public health, consumer protection, affordable housing, small business development, job growth and government reform.
Among her legislative accomplishments are laws involving child safety, criminal history checks for child care center employees and school volunteers, school bus safety, scholarship opportunities, student nutrition standards, eye exams for students, mentoring programs and after-school programs for at-risk youth.
As chair of the Senate Education Committee, Turner has overseen legislation affecting primary and secondary education. She has also worked on measures involving child abuse and neglect, adult literacy, affordable housing, homeownership and opportunities for students to attend two-year and four-year state colleges.
Turner received national attention for efforts to prevent publicly funded jobs from being outsourced overseas, an effort that set a precedent later followed by other states. She also helped establish laws involving microcredit business loans for women, insurance coverage for minimum hospital stays for mastectomies and childbirth, identity theft protections, predatory lending protections and smoke-free bars and restaurants.
She also worked on legislation to abolish the death penalty, create drug court programs for first-time, nonviolent offenders, reduce gun and gang violence, reform motor vehicle surcharge laws and promote efficiency and transparency in government spending.
Turner was the first woman and first African American elected Senate president pro tempore. She is a founding member of the Women’s Legislative Caucus, a member of the Legislative Black Caucus and a commissioner of the Education Commission of the States.
Blackwell will receive the Robert M. Appelbaum Service Award.
Blackwell has served on the Mercer Street Friends Board of Trustees for more than a decade and has chaired the board since 2020. He joined the board in 2017 after knowing the organization for more than 30 years through his involvement with Yardley Friends Meeting.
When he became chair, Blackwell said he had been introduced to Mercer Street Friends through a winter effort that collected gloves, scarves and hats for families served by the agency.
“I saw firsthand the good work of the food bank and now am witness to the impact of our programs focused on food, families and education,” Blackwell said at the time.
As chair, Blackwell has helped guide the organization through a period of growth and transition. He recently represented Mercer Street Friends at the Feeding America Conference in Dallas.
Blackwell is CEO of InKlaritas, a leadership development and executive coaching firm based at 300 Carnegie Center in Princeton.
The firm works with leaders and teams on executive coaching, group facilitation, off-site retreats, in-person training, assessment-based learning, 360-degree feedback and team climate surveys.
InKlaritas works with U.S. and international companies across a range of industries and focuses on helping organizations improve communication, collaboration and workplace performance.
Blackwell is a certified coach, trainer and keynote speaker. He has appeared on Comcast Network’s “Money Matters” and ABC’s “Good Morning America” and hosts the “Insight at Work with Ken Blackwell” podcast, which focuses on leadership, teamwork, workplace performance, neuroscience and organizational success.
He is an active member of the Princeton Mercer Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Society for Human Resource Management. He has served on several nonprofit and professional boards, including Learning & Development Professionals of Greater Philadelphia, the National Speakers Association’s Philadelphia Chapter and the Friends Camp Association of Pennsylvania.
The celebration comes during a leadership transition for Mercer Street Friends. Randall West, who joined the organization as chief administrative officer in 2025, has been named the nonprofit’s next CEO and is scheduled to assume the role July 1. Longtime CEO Bernie Flynn is transitioning to the organization’s Board of Trustees.
The organization said West will bring entrepreneurial, business and nonprofit board experience to the role as Mercer Street Friends continues responding to growing needs for food access, educational support and family services across Mercer County.
The June 9 event will bring together community partners, supporters, business leaders, volunteers and elected officials to recognize service and raise awareness of Mercer Street Friends’ work across the county.
More information on tickets and sponsorship opportunities is available at mercerstreetfriends.org.
